Automatic timer.



F. WALLER, JR. AUTOMATIC TIMER. APPLIOATIoN FILED JULY 2, 1910.

1,025,726. Patented May '7, 1912.

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APPLIOATION FILED JULY z, 1910.

' Patented May 7, 1912.

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WITNESSES:

mon/vm UNITED ,STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK WALLER, JR., OF LYNBROOK, NEW YORK.

aU'roMA'ric TIMER.

Timer, of which the following is a full,vv

n clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to automatic timers, such as are used more particularly for timing exposures for developing paper, photographs and the like, my more particular ypurpose being to produce a timer of this type in which the various parts, when set for a particular exposure, may be restored to normal condition after the exposure, and that, too, independently ofthe immediate attention of the operator.

My invention more particularly comprehends a continuously driven gear member, and clutch mechanism connected therewith ,and adapted to grip and release in varying intervals of time, determined by the relative position in which various adjustable parts are set beforehand at will.

Myinvention further comprehends contact mechanism controllable by my im rovedl timing mechanism for the purpose o opening and closing an electric lighting/ circuit, though I do not limit myself'in all instances to the use of the contact mechanism. Neither do I limit myself to the precise arrangement ofthe several parts shown, nor to the exact construct-ion of any particular part-the Vscope of my invent-ion being commensurate withmy claims.

While my improved automatic timer may be made in a great variety of ways, all of which it is impracticable to describe, I will, for convenience, content myself with describing a typical form of the device for use more particularly in connection with exposures of developed prints.

vReference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming apart of this speciicatiom in which similar characters of reference indicate' corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in elevation and partly diagrammatic, showing my improved automatic timer and an electric 'lighting circuit controllable by the same, the

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patentediuay '7, 1912.

Application led July 2, 1910. Serial No. 570,118.

device being in its normal position. Fig. 2

is a front elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is aside elevation showing the mechanism of Fig. 1, but at 'a more advanced 4stepto wit, just after the exposure has been made and the clutch is disengaged.'

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3, but with the addition of a constant speed motor. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section showing the clutch mechanism in action and variousV other parts as they appear while the exposure is being made.

A frame 6 is provided with forwardlyextending portions 6, 7, and mounted upon the portion 7 by aid of a pivot 9 is a clutch fork 8 provided withva forwardly-extending plate 10. A printing frame is shown at 11, and maybe placed under the plate 10, said printing frame 11 being mounted on a plate 14 by the aid ofa' pivot 12 and a bearing 13, the printing frame 11 `having an extension, as shown,'placed beneath the plate' 10 and used to lift the plate 10 upward or let it downward, as may be seen by contrasting' Figs. 1 and 3.

-The clutch fork 8 extends upwardly toward a hub 15 which is integral with a yoke 16, the latter being provided with stop pins 17, 18. The hub 15 is slidably mounted upon a'stationary shaft 19,-thev latter being provided with a set collar 20 which serves as a limiting stop and prevents undue travel of the hub 15 and yoke 16 in one direction, as will be understood from Figs. 1 and 3.

' The upper end of the-clutch fork 8 is provided with slotted bearings 21 and extending through these bearings are pms 22 mounted rigidly upon the hub 15. When the plate 10 is raised, the tendency of the stop pins 17, 18 is to move endwise toward the left according to Figs. 1 and 3.

Mounted `upon the shaft 19 is a set collar 23 and adjacent to the latter is a gear wheel 24 provided with a smooth beveled portion,

25 serving as a clutch member, and further provided with a hub 26 which turns freely upon the shaft 19. The gear wheel 24 is driven by aid of a constant speed motor 24a (see Fig. 4) and is therefore time controllable. Any well known make of constant speed motor is suitable for use in thisconnection. A collar 27 encircles the shaft 19 and engaging this collar is a compression vspring 28. A disk 29 is revolubly mounted upon the shaft 19 and is provided with an annular clutch member 30, the latter having a groove 31. A cord 32 rests in this groove and supports a weight 33, the tension of the weight maintaining the cord taut and tending to turn the disk 29 in a clockwise directionraccording toFigs.`2 and 4. The constant 'speed motor 24a is provided wit-h a gear wheel 24b which meshes with the gear wheel 24. The wheel 24 and the movable parts connected wit-h it are driven at a constant rate of speed.

The disk 29 is provided with holes 34, preferably sixty in number and indicating subdivisions of a minute of time.v In the particular instance here illustrated the disk 29, when lmoved by rotation of the gear 24, as hereinafter described, turns at the rate of one revolution per minute, so that the various holes 34, passing a given fixed point, do so at the rate of one per second. This arrangement is convenient for setting the timing device for a particular number ,of seconds or for a definite fraction of a minute. The disk 29 is made of met-al and carries a sector 35 of insulating material sunken Hush with its outer-peripheral surface. A contact spring 36, supported by the portion 6a of the frame and insulated therefrom by a plate 37 of insulating material, normally engages the'sector 35.'

Connected with the contact spring 36 is a wire 38 which leads to a dynamo 39 or other source of electricity. Awire 40 is connected with' this source of electricity and leads to a number of lamps 41 used in this instance for the purpose of furnishing the light for the exposure. A wire 42 is con- 'nected with the lamps 41 and with a contact spring 45 which engages the disk 29 when the latter is in its eXtremey position to the left, as indicated in Fig. 5.

At 46 is a vstop pin carried by the disk 29 and adapted to lodge against the portion 6a of the frame, so as toprevent excessive travel of the disk 29. When lthe stop pin 46 lodges against the framework 6a, the sector 35 (see F 2) is in engagement with the contact spring 36 and the disk 29 occupies its normal position of inactivity.` At 47 1s a revoluble disk which is mounted upon an annular boss 43 integral with the disk 29. The disk 47 is retained by a collar 44. The disk l 47 is provided with a sector 49 of insulating material, the disk 47 andvits neck 48 beingv of metal. v

At 50 is a spring pxi'n carried by the neck 48 and adapted for olding the disk 47 in any one of a number of different positionsl relatively tothe disk 29.

The operator, by manipulating the spring t the portion 6a of the frame, the disk 29 can never make more than one complete revolution in any direction'.

The disk 47 is provided with two holes 51, 52, the hole 51 being a little nearer than the hole! 52 to the shaft 19. The distancefrom the hole 51 to the shaft 19 is the same as the distance from the stop pin 18 to this shaft. Similarly the distance from the'hole 52 to the shaft is the same as that from the stop pin.17 to the shaft. When, therefore, the disk 47 occupies relatively to the disk 29 the position indicated in Fig. 2, the hole 51 when quite near the stop pin 17 is unable to register with the same, and this is also true of the hole 52 and stop pin 18. By this arrangement of the holes 51,- 52 and stop pins 17 ,.18, the disk 29 may be arranged for practically one completel revolution or any subdivision of the same.

The operation of my device is as follows: I will suppose, first, that the parts are in their respective normal positions, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The weight 33 is now at its lowermost limit; the disk 29 (see Fig. 2) is in such position that the spring 36 rests upon the insulating sector 35; the stop pin 46 is against the portion 6 of the frame; the plate 10 is down, the clutch fork 8 is swung outwardly at its upper end, and

the stop pins 17, 18 are out of engagement with the disk 47. Theoperator now wishing to time an exposure-say of a developing paper-determines first the number of seconds he wishes the exposure. to continue. This, I will assume for the moment, happens to be thirty. The operator grasps the spring pin 50 and by its aid releases the neck 48 and disk 47 from engagement with the disk 29. The neck 48 is now turned into such position that the number of holes 34 between the spring pin 50 and the sector 35 corresponds to the number of seconds desired for the exposure-in this instance 30. That is to say, the neck 48 is shifted around until thirty holes can be counted in a clockwise direction, according to Fig.` 2, from the sector 35 around to the neck. If-t-he exposure were to be any other number of seconds-say 15, 16 or 20-the neck 48 would be shifted accordingly so that the number of holes between the sector 35 andthe neck 48, reckoned in a clockwise direction, according to Fig. 2, corresponds to the number of seconds desired for the exposure. The location of the neck 48 being thus adjusted and the spring pin being released, the neck 48 is held rigidly in relation to the disk 29, as will be lunderstood from Fig. 5. Developing paper is now placed in the printing frame 11, this frame is then closed, and by virtue of the extension thereofI above mentioned, raises the plate 10. This causes the clutch fork 8 to rock slightly so that the stop pins 17, 18, are thrust toward the left according to Fig. 1. The stop pins 17 ,j 18 thus engage the disk 47, and by pressing a ainst the same, move the disk 29 to the left, according to Fig. 5, so that the clutch'member 30 is forced into engagement with the clutchl member `25. Since power is applied continuously to the gear 24, the dripping of the clutch members causes the dlsk 29 to begin turning, its direction of rotation being contra-clockwise according to Figs.` 2 and 4. The disk 29 carries the disk 47 with it. The disk 47 is pressed by tension' of the spring 28 (s ee Fig. 5), against the stop pins 17, 18 which do not prevent this disk from turning, because as yet the stop pins 17, 18 are not in registry with the holes 51, 52. When, however, the rotation of the disk 47 brings the holes 51,' 52 into registry with the stop pins 17 18, these stop pins snap into the holesor rather, the disk 47 moves outwardly so.

that the holes are over the pinsand lock the yoke 16 and disk rigidly together. This prevents further rotation of the disk 47. Moreover, since thedisks 29 and 47 are locked together, and the disk 47 slides bod` ily to the right according to Fig; 5, as soon as the holes 51, 52 are in registry with the stop pins 17 18, it follows that the clutch members 30, by moving to the right, according to Fig. 5, disengages thel clutch member 25. This allows the gear wheel 24 to continue its rotation uninterruptedly; whereas, the weight 33, by pulling upon the cord 32, tends to turn the disk29 in the reverse direction-that is, clockwise according to Fig. 2, but as the disk 47 is still held by the stop pins, vthe disk 29 is unable to act, under inuenceof the weight 33, until the frame 11 is raisedand the plate 10 is lowered in con- I sequence.

The time of exposure of the `developing paper is the time required for the disk 29 (see Fig. 2) to turn under the continuous drive of the vgear wheel 24, until the stop pins 17, 18 register with the holes 51, 52, as above described, and the clutch' mem,- ber 30 becomes disengaged-from the clutch member 25. Manifestly, if the disk 29 turns at such a velocity that 60 ofthe holes 34 passany given fixed point in 60 seconds, the time required 'for the disk 29 to turn any particular number of seconds, less than 60, may be-easily arranged by merely adjust' ing the position of the neck 48 relatively to the disk 29. That is to say, the operator turns 4the neck 48 so far ina clockwise direction as to leave between the spring pin 50 i andthesectofr 35 a number of holes corresponding to the number of seconds desired for the exposure.

I will now explain how the light isrma- I nipulated to correspond with the time desired for the exposure.

lVhen the parts are in their normal position kso that the Contact spring 36 rests upon v -left according to Fig. 5, the clutch member 3 0 is thus brought into engagement with the power-driven clutch member 25. The

disk 29 begins to turn and carries the sec-l tor 35 of insulating material out from under the contact spring 36. Then this occurs, a circuit is completed as follows: Source of electricity 39, wire 40, lamps 41, wire 42 to Contact spring 45, disk 29, contact spring 36, and wire 38, badk to source of supply. This energizes the lamps' 41 and they begin to glow.. As soon, however, as the disk 29 reaches its limit of travel (adjusted as above described by sett-ing the disk 47), the sector 49, carried by the neck 48 reaches the con-f tact spring 36 and raising the same out of engagement with the disk 29 leaves the ciri The electric energy' is thus not` cuitopen. used except during the time when an eX- posure is actually being made. The circuit is open'while the timing device is idle.

My invention may be used in a large number of independent relations.

tions Where it is desirable for the operator to bring about a predetermined movement of a mechanicalvpart after the expiration of a In fact, it

may be employed under almost any condi-,i

predetermined interval of time, this interval l to4 be ascertained inadvance by the operator and the device set or adjusted accordingly. v

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An automatic timer, comprising a tontinuouslyv driven .time-controlled' clutch member, a second clutch member normally free, means controllable at will for throwing said clutchv members into engagement, mechanism for restoring said second-mentioned clutch member, tov a predetermined normal position after each engagement of said second-mentioned clutch member with said Afirst-mentioned clutch member, and means.

controllable at will for preadjusting the time interval during which said first-mentioned clutch. member engages said second-mentioned clutch member.

2. An automatic timer, comprising conmeans for turning Vsaid disk at a constant trolling said yoke in order to force the same 10 into engagement with said adjusting disk.

In -testimony whereof I have signed my speed, an adjusting disk movable at will for name to this specification in the presence of determining the duration of rotation of said first-mentioned disk, a yoke provided With means for engaging said adjusting disk When the latter is brought into a predetermined position, and mechanism for contWo subscribing Witnesses.

FREDERICK WALLER, Jn. Witnesses:

F. W. HANAFORD, PHILIP D. RoLLHAUs. 

